Chapter 23: The Great Era

  When Zhao Bei gave a brand new interpretation of the revolution, the soldiers were delighted, but the idealists in the Qunchu Xueshe were unimpressed. For them, participating in the revolution was about expelling the Tartars, restoring China's glory, and reviving this dying nation! As for plundering money, land, and women? That might not even happen yet! Saying that, what's the difference between them and those Hui gangs? Besides, the glory of being a banner person is a thing of the past. Nowadays, except for those with high status, others are no different from Han civilians, and many are struggling, so they can just put on airs and ride roughshod over the Hans.

  Zhao Bei glanced at several high-ranking military officers standing under the reviewing stand and saw that their faces didn't look good, knowing they had opinions.

  Having opinions is normal. Different people have different thoughts, and it's impossible to unify everyone's thinking in a short period of time.

  However, as revolutionary soldiers, we certainly cannot just grab this and that. We are not bandits or the Eight Banners troops who plundered when they entered the pass. So even if we do grab money and grain, we must do it in an orderly and organized manner! Napoleon's army did it that way! The things we grab will be handed over uniformly, distributed uniformly, and absolutely no private grabbing is allowed! We have military discipline, and violating military discipline, others may tolerate, but I won't! Without my order, you can't even grab a toothpick! What you deserve, I won't be stingy with. What you don't deserve, you mustn't randomly reach out for! We only grab from the enemy, not from civilians! We are revolutionary soldiers, not bandits, and we must follow discipline! Discipline is fighting power! I have already assigned the task of drafting our military discipline to the comrades of the Gongzhicheng Society. Soon, we will have our own military discipline articles. Once they are formulated, whether officers or soldiers, no one is allowed to violate them. Otherwise, military law will be enforced!

  He spoke passionately for half an hour, finally completing his mobilization speech. Zhao Bei took over a German military canteen and drank nearly half of it in one breath. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and glanced at Duan Fang and Yin Chang, who were kneeling beside the reviewing stand. Several soldiers were holding wine and meat, waiting for them to eat and drink. Yin Chang was devouring the meat and drinking the wine in big gulps, while Duan Fang was limp all over, like a soft mud being supported by others. When the wine bowl was brought to his lips, he didn't even open his mouth. The soldier feeding him wine also lost patience, pinched his chin, pried open his mouth, and forced the wine in, causing Duan Fang to choke and grab at his nose and eyes with tears streaming down.

  Tian Jinfu, who was guarding the two men, ran up to the reviewing platform, stood at attention and saluted, saying: "Report! Duan Fang and Yin Chang have finished drinking wine and eating meat. Shall we carry out the execution now?"

  Zhao Bei glanced at Yin Chang and asked: "Has the executioner been found?"

  "Department of Employment has played a ghost head knife." Tian Jin said with his head held high.

  "Then you do it." Zhao Bei turned his head back, because he found that Ying Chang was staring at him with a strange gaze, which made him very uncomfortable. Even if someone else were to exchange places with him, they would still avoid each other's eyes when facing a dying person.

  Tian Jinfu walked down from the reviewing platform, waved his hand and said: "Fire the salute!"

  "Wait! I have something to say!" Yin Chang struggled to get up and shouted at Zhao Bei.

  "Bring him over and let's talk." Zhao Bei nodded at Tian Jinfu.

  The soldiers pushed Yin Chang forward, intending to make him kneel down, but were stopped by Zhao Bei.

  "What do you want to say?" Zhao Bei asked. "Do you have any last words? If you'd like to write them down, there's paper and pen."

  "Are you the vanguard officer who stirred up the rebellion? On what grounds are we to be killed?" Yin Chang was surprised by Zhao Bei's youth.

  "Not bad, I am the vanguard officer of the revolution." Zhao Bei said with a stern face. "Killing you is not a personal vendetta, but public indignation! It's for avenging those soldiers killed by you, as well as to make an example out of it! At the same time, it's also to demonstrate our revolutionary stance."

  "What revolutionary stand? Robbing money, robbing fields, and abducting women?" Yin Chang smiled wryly, but no one paid attention to him after he had been smiling for half a day. He then asked sulkily: "Is it guns or knives?"

  "Knife." Zhao Bei raised his head and gazed at the distant graves. "It was that demonic knife of yours, Goshah, that slaughtered those soldiers."

  "Is that ridiculous story something you made up?" Yin Chang asked with a pale face.

  "What story?" Zhao Bei was slightly taken aback.

  "That story about Yuan Shikai, you told the soldiers to spread it outside the prison gate on purpose. Does Yuan Shikai have the guts to poison the Emperor? I'm afraid it's something you made up! What's your intention in fabricating this story?"

  Zhaobei said meaningfully, "Whether or not Yuan Shikai poisoned Guangxu is unimportant. What's important is that Guangxu was indeed murdered by poisoning." With that, he waved his hand and several soldiers dragged Yin Chang away to kneel alongside Duan Fang.

  "Kill! Kill!"

  The soldiers cheered and shouted.

  A cannon shot rang out, and two human heads fell to the ground, then were hung high on a flagpole, swaying back and forth in the wind.

  "Report, the prisoner has been beheaded!" Tian Jinfu shouted as he ran up to the reviewing stand.

  Looking at the two headless corpses, Zhao Bei felt a sense of melancholy.

  "When they killed the soldiers, they probably didn't think that they would also die under the same devilish knife."

  This is war! It's a life-and-death struggle between two factions, and also a fierce collision between two eras. This war requires sacrifices, those soldiers are sacrifices, and so is Rong Chang. If Zhao Bei doesn't do well, then the next sacrifice will be him.

  "Report!"

  Just as Zhao Bei was feeling emotional, Zou Ruyu ran over and stood under the reviewing stand at attention.

  "Say it." Zhao Bei withdrew his gaze.

  "Received a telegram from the fake Qing Ministry of War, relayed by foreign gunboats on the Yangtze River, addressed to Tan Fang and Yin Chang."

  "Mind!"

  "Yes!…… This time, the Anqing rebellion, the rebel army occupied the provincial capital, and the bandits rose together, shaking Jiangnan, fearing a chaotic situation. Now, I order your troops to quickly advance eastward, with full force to quell the rebellion, and wipe it out within a specified period! Military Affairs Bureau, Ministry of War."

  Zhou Bei glanced at the telegram in Zou Runyu's hand, a hint of cold smile on his lips. The insurgent army now not only controlled the radio station but also possessed the Qing military's telegraph cipher book. It could be said that all actions of the Qing court's troop deployment were under their surveillance. Unfortunately, the current wireless telegraph machine had a short communication distance, and the Qing army was not equipped with many radio stations, so they received very few domestic signals. On the other hand, foreign ships on the Yangtze River occasionally sent out some plaintext telegrams.

  "What's the signal?" Zou Ruyu raised his head and looked at the two heads swaying back and forth on the flagpole. "We might as well take this opportunity to launch an uprising!"

  Zhao Bei shook his head and said, "No! We can't start an uprising by telegram now. Since the Qing court is still dreaming, let them continue to dream. Send a telegram saying: My troops have all moved east, hoping that the Ministry of War will quickly outline the mobilization situation of the new armies and defense battalions in various provinces, so as to coordinate and attack together; also, there are many Yangtze River gunboats, hoping to quickly dispatch personnel to take charge of the eastern advance, secretly deploying them in the Jiangning and Shanghai areas, intimidating the Huizhou Party and protecting the rich financial land of Jiangnan."

  ……

  Go west!

  On November 22, 1908, at 9:00 am, "Revolutionary Army Vanguard Officer" Zhao Bei personally presided over the queue-cutting ceremony for all officers in Huangni Port Town, and then beheaded Duan Fang and Yin Chang in front of the army. After burning all the heavy ships, he formally took an oath to march west.

  The revolutionary army was formed into two echelons, advancing rapidly westward along the road built by the Autumn Maneuver New Army, with Zhao Bei as the commander-in-chief, Wu Zhenhan as the commander of the first echelon, and Yang Wangpeng as the commander of the second echelon. All the baggage that could be taken away was controlled by the Independent Baggage Brigade, led by Tian Jinfu, the guard captain of Zhao Bei.

  "How long will the dream last, when will it awaken? Who created the alarm clock in the land of sleep? The Eastern continent is about to sink, listen to this song... Don't let the fleeting years slip away, don't lament the passing of youth. Closely following Japan and far surpassing Europe, the world's civilization unfolds in sequence..."

  The red flag fluttered, the military song sounded loud and clear, the morale was high, and the era known as the "Wu Shen Revolution" officially opened its curtain.